Eleanor of Aquitaine - British History - HISTORY.com Eleanor of Aquitaine A+E Networks Introduction Eleanor of Aquitaine (1137-1152) was one of the most powerful and influential figures of the Middle Ages. Inheriting a vast estate at the age of 15 made her the most sought-after bride of her generation. She would eventually become the queen of France, the queen of England and lead a crusade to the Holy Land. She is also credited with establishing and preserving many of the courtly rituals of chivalry. Google Eleanor of Aquitaine: Early Life Eleanor was born in what is now southern France, most likely in the year 1122. She was well educated by her cultured father, William X, Duke of Aquitaine, thoroughly versed in literature, philosophy, and languages and trained to the rigors of court life when she became her father’s heir presumptive at the age 5. An avid horsewoman, she led an active life until she inherited her father’s title and extensive lands upon his death when she was 15, becoming in one stroke duchess of Aquitaine and by far the most eligible single young woman in Europe.

She was placed under the guardianship of the king of France, and within hours was betrothed to his son and heir, Louis. The king sent an escort of 500 men to convey the news to Eleanor and transport her to her new home. Did You Know? Eleanor of Aquitaine is said to be responsible for the introduction of built-in fireplaces, first used when she renovated the palace of her first husband Louis in Paris. Shocked by the frigid north after her upbringing in southern France, Eleanor’s innovation spread quickly, transforming the domestic arrangements of the time. Eleanor of Aquitaine Becomes Queen of France Louis and Eleanor were married in July 1137, but had little time to get to know one another before Louis’ father the king fell ill and died. Within weeks of her wedding, Eleanor found herself taking possession of the drafty and unwelcoming Cîté Palace in Paris that would be her new home. On Christmas Day of the same year, Louis and Eleanor were crowned king and queen of France. Louis and Eleanor’s first years as rulers were fraught with power struggles with their own vassals–the powerful Count Theobald of Champagne for one–and with the Pope in Rome.

Louis, still young and intemperate, made a series of military and diplomatic blunders that set him at odds with the Pope and several of his more powerful lords. The conflict that ensued culminated in the massacre of hundreds of innocents in the town of Vitry—during a siege of the town, a great number of the populace took refuge in a church, which was set aflame by Louis’s troops. Dogged by guilt over his role in the tragedy for years, Louis responded eagerly to the Pope’s call for a crusade in 1145. Eleanor joined him on the dangerous–and ill fated–journey west. The crusade did not go well, and Eleanor and Louis grew increasingly estranged. After several fraught years during which Eleanor sought an annulment and Louis faced increasing public criticism, they were eventually granted an annulment on the grounds of consanguinity (being related by blood) in 1152 and separated, their two daughters left in the custody of the king.

Eleanor Becomes Queen of England Within two months of her annulment, after fighting off attempts to marry her off to various other high-ranking French noblemen, Eleanor married Henry, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy. She had been rumored to have had an affair with her new husband’s father, and was more closely related to her new husband than she had been to Louis, but the marriage went ahead and within two years Henry and Eleanor were crowned king and queen of England after Henry’s accession to the English throne upon the death of King Stephen. Eleanor’s marriage to Henry was more successful than her first, although not lacking in drama and discord. Henry and Eleanor argued often, but they produced eight children together between 1152 and 1166. The extent of Eleanor’s role in Henry’s rule is largely unknown, although it seems unlikely that a woman of her reputed energy and education would have been wholly without influence. Nonetheless, she does not emerge again into a publicly active role until separating from Henry in 1167 and moving her household to her own lands in Poitiers.

While the reasons for the breakdown of her marriage to Henry remain unclear, it can likely be traced to Henry’s increasingly visible infidelities. Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Court of Love Eleanor’s time as mistress of her own lands in Poitiers (1168-1173) established the legend of the Court of Love, where she is reputed to have encouraged a culture of chivalry among her courtiers that had far-reaching influence on literature, poetry, music and folklore. Although some facts about the court remain in dispute amidst centuries of accumulated legend and myth, it seems that Eleanor, possibly accompanied by her daughter Marie, established a court that was largely focused on courtly love and symbolic ritual that was eagerly taken up by the troubadours and writers of the day and promulgated through poetry and song. This court was reported to have attracted artists and poets, and to have contributed to a flowering of culture and the arts. But to whatever extent such a court existed, it appears not to have survived Eleanor’s later capture and imprisonment, which effectively removed her from any position of power and influence for the next 16 years.

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Imprisonment In 1173, Eleanor’s son “Young” Henry fled to France, apparently to plot against his father and seize the English throne. Eleanor, rumored to be actively supporting her son’s plans against her estranged husband, was arrested and imprisoned for treason. Once apprehended, she spent the next 16 years shuttled between various castles and strongholds in England, suspected of agitating against her husband’s interests and said by some to have played a role in the death of his favorite mistress, Rosamund. After years of rebellion and revolt, Young Henry finally succumbed to disease in 1183 and died, begging on his deathbed for his mother’s release. Henry released her, under guard, to allow her to return to England in 1184, after which she rejoined his household at least for part of each year, joining him on solemn occasions and resuming some of her ceremonial duties as queen. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Regency and Death Henry II died in July 1189 and their son Richard succeeded him; one of his first acts was to free his mother from prison and restore her to full freedom.

Eleanor ruled as regent in Richard’s name while he took over for his father in leading the Third Crusade, which had barely begun when Henry II died. On the conclusion of the crusade, Richard (known as Richard the Lionheart) returned to England and ruled until his death in 1199. Eleanor lived to see her youngest son, John, crowned king after Richard’s death, and was employed by John as an envoy to France. She would later support John’s rule against the rebellion of her grandson Arthur, and eventually retire as a nun to the abbey at Fontevraud, where she was buried upon her death in 1204. Tags Eleanor of Aquitaine | Facts Accomplishments History Monarchy , Plantagenet Eleanor Of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was a major figure in the middle ages and a prominent figure in women’s history. Born the Duchess of Aquitaine, she would eventually become Queen of England. The eldest daughter of the William, Duke of Aquitaine, she was married to Louis VII, King of France. During the Second Crusade, her relationship with her husband soured, and in 1152, they officially divorced.

Shortly afterward, she married Henry of Anjou, who in two years would become King Of England. The royal couple had 8 children, five sons and three daughters. Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine remained heavily involved in the ruling of King Henry II’s vast empire in France and England. In 1173, Henry’s sons started a revolt against their father with Eleanor siding with her sons. Henry stifled the revolt and, as punishment for her involvement, confined her. Henry II died in 1189, and Richard II, the Lionhearted, became king. Another of her sons, John, rose against Richard along with the King of France. Eleanor supported Richard. Later, when her grandson tried to claim the throne, she supported John. She died in 1204 at the age of 82. * * * Information in this article includes biographical information, facts, her accomplishments, and her relationships with King Louis VII and King Henry II. This restless queen swept across the 12th century, changing the face of Europe.

Endowed with intelligence, creative energy and a remarkably long life, Eleanor of Aquitaine played a major role in the 12th century, an impressive achievement given that medieval women were considered nothing more than chattel. Assets of brains and enterprise served her well in the chaos of the time—unrelenting hostilities between Plantagenets and Capets, crusades and struggle between church and state. They equipped her to advance civility in a ruthless era by promoting the songs of troubadours and the ideals of courtly love. Even in a century of imposing personalities—the likes of Thomas Becket, Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Abélard—Eleanor took center stage. Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) and her daughter-in-law Isabella, from a 13th-century fresco at Chapelle de Sainte Radegonde, Chinon, France (Dagli Orti/The Art Archive). As the queen consort of King Louis VII of France and of King Henry II of England, and as the mother of King Richard I and King John, she held the spotlight, wielding power over the most important men of her time.

She was the daughter and heir of the imperious William X, Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitiers, who possessed the largest domains in northwest Europe, indeed larger than those held by the king of France. When her father died in 1137, she came into her inheritance and, complying with the dictates of a territorial agreement, at age 15 married the heir to the French throne. Barely a month after the wedding, King Louis VI died, thrusting Eleanor’s 16-year-old groom to the throne of France. Eleanor found court life as queen of France stultifying. Her timid, sweet-tempered and devout husband exasperated her. Formed during her childhood at the court in Poitiers where she was rarely disciplined and always admired, her strong ego impelled Eleanor to create a lofty royal vision for herself, one that did not encompass the subordinate role as queen of France. After a decade of marriage she was as beautiful and capricious as ever, but even more headstrong and domineering toward Louis. From 1147 to 1149 she accompanied him on the Second Crusade.

According to Simon Schama in A History of Britain, while Louis took the cross to atone for his sins, “Eleanor went with him in a magnificent rather than penitential style,” adding, “Dismayed to discover that crusading was an arduous, pious business, she quickly developed an unhealthily warm relationship with her uncle, the slightly impious Raymond of Poitiers.” Raymond, apparently ensconced at Antioch for the duration of the crusade, aroused Louis’jealousy, which caused an estrangement between Eleanor and Louis. SHEHELD The SPOTLIGHT: WIELDING POWER OVER THE MOST IMPORTANT MEN Though at one time Louis had adored his wife, after 15 years of marriage he was willing to let her go for the sake of the Capetian royal line. She had not borne him a son and heir, only two daughters. Eleanor, on cue, illuminated her predicament, explaining that her husband’s infrequent visits to her bed accounted for the fruitlessness of their union. In the end, the marriage was annulled on the convenient grounds of consanguinity: Eleanor and Louis were too closely related for the church to tolerate.

Following the dissolution of her marriage, Eleanor regained possession of Aquitaine and Poitou. This wealth combined with her loveliness attracted suitors well before the annulment was final, one of whom was Henry of Anjou (a domain bordering Poitou), soon to be known as Plantagenet. Most historians agree that Eleanor and Geoffrey of Anjou, Henry’s father, were sexually intimate before she met Henry. Schama notes, “It was rumored that Geoffrey of Anjou had personally verified Eleanor’s appetite for passion before recommending her to his son.” Be this as it may, 30-year-old Eleanor and 18-year-old Henry felt passionately attracted to one another. Henry’s unsurpassed physical courage and keen political acumen resonated with Eleanor’s ambition for power.

Schama writes, “Barely eight weeks after Eleanor’s divorce in May 1152, Henry stood at the altar beside this considerably older woman whom all contemporary accounts describe as a dark-eyed beauty, disconcertingly articulate, strong-minded and even jocular and not at all the modestly veiled damsel in the tower.” For her part, Eleanor was willing to look beyond her groom’s stocky frame, barrel chest and boyish freckles to his arrogant self-confidence and royal objectives. Though they may have had little in common because of the age difference, the pair shared similar backgrounds. “Their native worlds,” writes Schama, “were not all that far apart…knights astride brightly caparisoned chargers thudding into each other in the lists or obliging their overlords by burning down the opposition’s manors.” Four Plantagenet kings are shown in this 13th-century manuscript (clockwise from top left): Henry II, Richard I, Henry III and John. Two years after the wedding, Henry became King Henry II of England, and Eleanor his queen. Stretching from the Pyrenees in the south to the Cheviots in the north, their empire was indeed vast.

Their Plantagenet offspring would rule England and parts of the Continent for the next 330 years, an era of insatiable royal ambition, family jealousies and territorial overreach. During a tempestuous marriage of nearly 40 years, Eleanor and Henry produced seven children who survived to adulthood, four of whom were sons. The oldest surviving son, known as the Young King Henry, died of dysentery at age 28 while leading troops in rebellion against his father. Another disloyal son, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, died a mysterious death in Paris, also at age 28. Eleanor’s favorite son, Richard the Lionheart, and Henry’s favorite, John Lackland, would both in turn inherit the crown of England. Throughout her childbearing years, Eleanor participated in the administration of the realm, particularly in the management of her own domains, Aquitaine and Poitou. Accounts of Eleanor’s activities at court in Poitiers reveal a softer side to this aggressive woman. Captivated by the romantic legend of King Arthur and stories of the knights of his Round Table, she filled the court with troubadours whose performances evoked King Arthur’s world—a milieu of chivalry and courtly love.

The precepts of chivalry held that women were to be silent, passive goddesses to be approached with reverence. Perhaps the troubadours’tales appealed to Eleanor because of their contrast to her callous life of action. In an 1840 painting by Jean Baptiste Mauzaisse, young Louis VII, Eleanor’s first husband, takes the banner of St. Denis in 1147. The original hangs at Versailles. Chivalry notwithstanding, circumstances anchored her in reality. Time after time her adult sons’ intermittent revolts against her husband lured her attention away from cultural pursuits. When her sons staged a rebellion in 1173 Eleanor gave them support in the form of troops and money. Indeed, some historians believe that Eleanor initiated the plot. She and Henry had long been estranged, the 12-year age difference proving an obstacle in the marriage. Eleanor resented Henry’s infidelities, particularly his blatant association with the fair Rosamund (a beauty much lauded by English poets). Yet more important than Eleanor’s resentment was her consummate ambition for personal power. She believed that with one of her sons on the throne, she herself would rule England.

The rebellion failed and King Henry II held the throne intact, and for her role in the drama Eleanor was confined under guard at various castles throughout Henry’s kingdom. When her imprisonment ended with her husband’s death in 1189, Eleanor, undaunted at age 67, returned with a vengeance to public life. Schama points out that she greeted the death of Henry with dry eyes, and continues, “With Richard—a character formed by her own educated passions—finally seated on the throne, she could assert herself again in the business of state.” Her opportunity came on the heels of King Richard’s coronation, an event she stage-crafted with the fullest measure of pageantry. The Third Crusade was underway and crusading fervor had enveloped England. Yet Eleanor viewed the rescue of the Holy Land from the Turks as a distraction from the business at hand; the real concern, she believed, was not Saladin but the preservation of the House of Plantagenet, particularly in England. Against his mother’s advice, King Richard was determined to join the crusade, a decision undoubtedly fueled by childhood exposure in Poitiers to his mother’s world of chivalric idylls.

Like an Arthurian knight, he would travel with courage and honor to rescue the besieged city of Jerusalem. At Fontevrault Abbey, France, Eleanor’s tomb lies between those of her husband, Henry II, and her favorite son, Richard the Lionheart. “She WAS BEAVTIFVI AND JUST:— I, VMBLE AND ELEGANT” King Richard was away for five years, during which time his mother ruled England as administrator of the realm, simultaneously thwarting the intrigues of his brother John Lackland in his attempts to seize the throne. Participation in the crusade did not account for Richard’s entire absence. While returning from the Holy Land he was captured and taken prisoner by the Duke of Austria. Characteristically competent and resourceful, Eleanor not only collected her son’s considerable ransom but also made the formidable journey to Austria to escort him back to England. King Richard the Lionheart died in 1199 near Aquitaine, besieging a castle belonging to a rebellious vassal. Because he died without an heir, Richard’s younger brother, and least capable of Henry and Eleanor’s brood, John was crowned king.

From the outset of his reign, territorial wars against the Capetian rulers of France occupied King John. With typical political savvy Eleanor resolved that her granddaughter Blanche should marry the son of the French king, thus initiating peace between the Plantagenets and Capets. Amazingly, in 1200 when she was nearly 80 years old she crossed the Pyrenees on horseback to fetch Blanche from the Court of Castile. Still her work was not completed. That same year, in order to secure King John’s continental possessions, Eleanor helped him to defend Anjou and Aquitaine against her grandson Arthur of Brittany (son of Geoffrey). Records show that in 1202 King John was again in his mother’s debt for holding Poitou against Arthur. But that apparently was her final curtain call. Following the battle she retired to the monastery at Fontevrault in Anjou, where she died in 1204. In the years immediately following her death, historians judged Eleanor harshly, spotlighting only her youthful indiscretions and ignoring the political wisdom and tenacity that marked the years of her maturity.

The nuns of Fontevrault, however, wrote in their necrology, “She was beautiful and just, imposing and modest, humble and elegant.” BBC - History - Eleanor of Aquitaine z Eleanor of Aquitaine © Eleanor was one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages. Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she would go onto become queen-consort of France and later queen of England. Eleanor was the elder daughter of William, tenth Duke of Aquitaine. The exact date of her birth is unknown, but she was raised in one of Europe's most cultured courts and given an excellent education. She later became an important patron of poets and writers. The death of Eleanor's only brother, and of her father in 1137, left her with a vast inheritance. At just 15-years-old, she had suddenly become the most eligible heiress in Europe. That same year she married Louis, heir to Louis VI of France, who shortly afterwards became king as Louis VII. The couple had two daughters. In 1147, Eleanor accompanied her husband on the Second Crusade, travelling to Constantinople and Jerusalem.

The Crusade was a failure and relations between Eleanor and her husband, already poor, deteriorated even further. Eleanor's failure to produce a son contributed considerably to this tension, and in 1152 they were divorced. Two months later Eleanor married Henry of Anjou, who in 1154 became king of England. The couple had five sons and three daughters. For nearly two decades, Eleanor played an active part in the running of Henry's empire, travelling backwards and forwards between their territories in England and France. In 1173 two of Eleanor's sons involved her in a plot against their father, and as a result Henry imprisoned her. After Henry's death in 1189, his eldest son, Richard I, ordered his mother's release. Despite her age (now in her mid-sixties, which was considered elderly in the 12th century) Eleanor became very closely involved in government. In 1190, she acted as regent in England when Richard went to join the Third Crusade. She even played her part in negotiations for his release after he was taken prisoner in Germany on his way home.

In 1199, Richard died and was succeeded by Eleanor and Henry's youngest son, John. Eleanor's role in English affairs now ceased, although she continued to be closely involved in those of Aquitaine, where she spent her final years. She died on 31 March 1204 and was buried in the abbey church at Fontevrault next to Henry II. Female Hero: Eleanor of Aquitaine (Women in World History Curriculum) Eleanor of Aquitaine enters Constantinople, 1147 A.D. Illustration from Women Warlords, Tim Newark, Blandford Press, UK, 1989. ©1996-2016 womeninworldhistory.com Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful and fascinating personalities of feudal Europe. At age 15 she married Louis VII, King of France, bringing into the union her vast possessions from the River Loire to the Pyrenees. Only a few years later, at age 19, she knelt in the cathedral of Vézelay before the celebrated Abbé Bernard of Clairvaux offering him thousands of her vassals for the Second Crusade.

It was said that Queen Eleanor appeared at Vézelay dressed like an Amazon galloping through the crowds on a white horse, urging them to join the crusades. While the church may have been pleased to receive her thousand fighting vassals, they were less happy when they learned that Eleanor, attended by 300 of her ladies, also planned to go to help "tend the wounded." The presence of Eleanor, her ladies and wagons of female servants, was criticized by commentators throughout her adventure. Dressed in armor and carrying lances, the women never fought. And when they reached the city of Antioch, Eleanor found herself deep in a renewed friendship with Raymond, her uncle, who had been appointed prince of the city. Raymond, only a few years older than Eleanor, was far more interesting and handsome than Eleanor's husband, Louis. When Raymond decided that the best strategic objective of the Crusade would be to recapture Edessa, thus protecting the Western presence in the Holy Land, Eleanor sided with his view. Louis, however, was fixated on reaching Jerusalem, a less sound goal. Louis demanded that Eleanor follow him to Jerusalem.

Eleanor, furious, announced to one and all that their marriage was not valid in the eyes of God, for they were related through some family connections to an extent prohibited by the Church. Wounded by her claim, Louis nonetheless forced Eleanor to honor her marriage vows and ride with him. The expedition did fail, and a defeated Eleanor and Louis returned to France in separate ships. On her way home, while resting in Sicily, Eleanor was brought the news that her fair haired uncle had been killed in battle, and his head delivered to the Caliph of Baghdad. Although her marriage to Louis continued for a time, and she bore him two daughters, the relationship was over. In 1152 the marriage was annulled and her vast estates reverted to Eleanor's control. Within a year, at age thirty, she married twenty year old Henry who two years later became king of England. In the papal bull for the next Crusade, it expressly forbade women of all sorts to join the expedition. All the Christian monarchs, including King Louis, agreed to this. But by this time Eleanor had problems of her own in her marriage to King Henry II of England.

Eleanor of Aquitaine | queen consort of France and England | Britannica.com queen consort of France and England Written By: Alternative Titles: Aliénor d’Aquitaine, Aliénor de Guyenne, Eleanor of Guyenne, Eléonore d’Aquitaine, Eléonore de Guyenne Eleanor of Aquitaine Queen consort of France and England Also known as Louis VI Eleanor of Aquitaine, also called Eleanor of Guyenne, French Éléonore or Aliénor, d’Aquitaine or de Guyenne (born c. 1122—died April 1, 1204, Fontevrault, Anjou, France ), queen consort of both Louis VII of France (1137–52) and Henry II of England (1152–1204) and mother of Richard I (the Lion-Heart) and John of England. She was perhaps the most powerful woman in 12th-century Europe.

Eleanor of Aquitaine marrying Louis VII in 1137 (left scene) and Louis VII departing on the Second … Photos.com/Jupiterimages Eleanor was the daughter and heiress of William X , duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitiers , who possessed one of the largest domains in France—larger, in fact, than those held by the French king. Upon William’s death in 1137 she inherited the duchy of Aquitaine and in July 1137 married the heir to the French throne, who succeeded his father, Louis VI , the following month. Eleanor became queen of France , a title she held for the next 15 years. Beautiful, capricious , and adored by Louis, Eleanor exerted considerable influence over him, often goading him into undertaking perilous ventures. From 1147 to 1149 Eleanor accompanied Louis on the Second Crusade to protect the fragile Latin kingdom of Jerusalem , founded after the First Crusade only 50 years before, from Turkish assault.

Eleanor’s conduct during this expedition, especially at the court of her uncle Raymond of Poitiers at Antioch , aroused Louis’s jealousy and marked the beginning of their estrangement. After their return to France and a short-lived reconciliation, their marriage was annulled in March 1152. According to feudal customs, Eleanor then regained possession of Aquitaine, and two months later she married the grandson of Henry I of England, Henry Plantagenet, count of Anjou and duke of Normandy. In 1154 he became, as Henry II , king of England, with the result that England, Normandy , and the west of France were united under his rule. Eleanor had only two daughters by Louis VII; to her new husband she bore five sons and three daughters. The sons were William, who died at the age of three; Henry; Richard , the Lion-Heart; Geoffrey, duke of Brittany; and John , surnamed Lackland until, having outlived all his brothers, he inherited, in 1199, the crown of England.

The daughters were Matilda , who married Henry the Lion , duke of Saxony and Bavaria ; Eleanor, who married Alfonso VIII , king of Castile; and Joan, who married successively William II , king of Sicily, and Raymond VI , count of Toulouse . Eleanor would well have deserved to be named the “grandmother of Europe.” A scene from the film The Lion in Winter (1968): (left to right) Anthony Hopkins as Richard … © Embassy Pictures Corporation Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent During her childbearing years, she participated actively in the administration of the realm and even more actively in the management of her own domains. She was instrumental in turning the court of Poitiers , then frequented by the most famous troubadours of the time, into a centre of poetry and a model of courtly life and manners.

She was the great patron of the two dominant poetic movements of the time: the courtly love tradition, conveyed in the romantic songs of the troubadours, and the historical matière de Bretagne , or “legends of Brittany,” which originated in Celtic traditions and in the Historia regum Britanniae , written by the chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth sometime between 1135 and 1138. The revolt of her sons against her husband in 1173 put her cultural activities to a brutal end. Since Eleanor, 11 years her husband’s senior, had long resented his infidelities, the revolt may have been instigated by her; in any case, she gave her sons considerable military support. The revolt failed, and Eleanor was captured while seeking refuge in the kingdom of her first husband, Louis VII. Her semi-imprisonment in England ended only with the death of Henry II in 1189. On her release, Eleanor played a greater political role than ever before.

She actively prepared for Richard’s coronation as king, was administrator of the realm during his Crusade to the Holy Land, and, after his capture by the duke of Austria on Richard’s return from the east, collected his ransom and went in person to escort him to England. During Richard’s absence, she succeeded in keeping his kingdom intact and in thwarting the intrigues of his brother John Lackland and Philip II Augustus , king of France, against him. Exploring Italy and France: Fact or Fiction? In 1199 Richard died without leaving an heir to the throne, and John was crowned king. Eleanor, nearly 80 years old, fearing the disintegration of the Plantagenet domain, crossed the Pyrenees in 1200 in order to fetch her granddaughter Blanche from the court of Castile and marry her to the son of the French king. By this marriage she hoped to ensure peace between the Plantagenets of England and the Capetian kings of France. In the same year she helped to defend Anjou and Aquitaine against her grandson Arthur of Brittany, thus securing John’s French possessions.

In 1202 John was again in her debt for holding Mirebeau against Arthur, until John, coming to her relief, was able to take him prisoner. John’s only victories on the Continent, therefore, were due to Eleanor. Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies She died in 1204 at the monastery at Fontevrault, Anjou, where she had retired after the campaign at Mirebeau. Her contribution to England extended beyond her own lifetime; after the loss of Normandy (1204), it was her own ancestral lands and not the old Norman territories that remained loyal to England. She has been misjudged by many French historians who have noted only her youthful frivolity, ignoring the tenacity, political wisdom, and energy that characterized the years of her maturity.

“She was beautiful and just, imposing and modest, humble and elegant”; and, as the nuns of Fontevrault wrote in their necrology, a queen “who surpassed almost all the queens of the world.” Eleanor of Aquitaine lies between her son Richard I and her second husband, Henry II, both kings of … Erich Lessing/Art Resource, New York More about Eleanor of Aquitaine 11 References found in Britannica Articles Assorted References Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Henry of Anjou | History Today Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Henry of Anjou Henry II Richard Cavendish marks the anniversary of a royal marriage, on May 18th, 1152. Two more strong-minded, forceful and determined people could hardly have been matched. Eleanor, who was about thirty, had already been queen of France for fifteen years through her first marriage and by her second she would soon be queen of England. Daughter and heiress of William X, Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou, she was beautiful, wanton, capricious, sophisticated, highly intelligent and accustomed to having her own way.

She had inherited her father’s enormous estates in her teens on his death in 1137 and her first husband, Louis VII of France, had been quite unable to stand up to her. She bore him two daughters, went on crusade with him and ordered him about until her infidelities and her failure to produce an heir proved too much. The marriage was annulled in March 1152 on grounds of consanguinity. The annulment gave Eleanor back Aquitaine and Poitou, which she took with her eight weeks later to Henry, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy, to whom, incidentally, she was just as closely related as she had been to Louis. Henry was nineteen years old, bull-necked, stocky and freckled, a man of electric energy and ferocious impatience, compelling charm and an ungovernable temper. He was ruthless when crossed and some of his contemporaries uneasily credited the story that his family, the Plantagenets, were descended from the Devil – a tale that the Plantagenets themselves delighted to encourage. The marriage took most people by surprise.

It was rumoured that the bride and groom had anticipated the ceremony and there was also a story that she had known the groom’s late father, Geoffrey of Anjou, considerably better than she should have done. As soon as the French archbishops had formally annulled her marriage on March 21st, Eleanor left the royal castle at Beaugency on the Loire, near Orleans, dodged an attempt to seize her by the Count of Blois and took a barge along the river towards Tours with an escort of her own men. Warned just in time, she avoided an ambush set by Henry’s young brother Geoffrey, who hoped to advance his ambitions by marrying her himself, and arrived safely at her own capital of Poitiers. She immediately sent word to Henry to come promptly and marry her, and meanwhile summoned her principal vassals to renew their allegiance to her as Duchess of Aquitaine. Henry joined her in Poitiers and they were married in the cathedral on Whit Sunday in a simple ceremony with none of the pomp and splendour that might have been expected. Among those startled by this development was King Louis, who was furious that neither party had asked his consent, which he would of course have refused.

A contemporary Norman chronicler, Robert de Torigny, confessed himself uncertain whether the marriage was a matter of sudden impulse or careful premeditation. Eleanor’s latest biographer, Alison Weir, suspects that Eleanor and Henry had been plotting since they met in Paris the previous summer and that Eleanor had deliberately encouraged the annulment of her marriage to Louis. Either way, when Henry succeeded to the throne of England in 1154, the effect was to give the rulers of England a domain in France stretching from the English Channel to the Pyrenees and covering ten times as much of the country as the French kings themselves possessed. The consequences for the subsequent history of English ambitions in France were profound. Over the next twelve years Eleanor bore Henry five sons and three daughters. Two of their sons, Richard and John, would be kings of England. She played a prominent part in government and a patron’s role in the development of both troubadour poetry and the Arthurian legends. Not surprisingly, her life with Henry was stormy. She may well have encouraged her sons to rebel against their father in 1173 and after that he kept her penned up as a prisoner in England until he died in 1189.

Under both Richard and John she was active in matters of state and she died eventually in a nunnery at Fontrevault in Anjou in her early eighties in 1204, having been for much of a lifetime probably the most powerful woman in Europe. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Powerful Ruler in Medieval Europe Eleanor of Aquitaine Facts: Dates: 1122 - 1204 (twelfth century) Occupation: ruler in her own right of Aquitaine, queen consort in France then England; queen mother in England Eleanor of Aquitaine is known for: serving as Queen of England, Queen of France, and Duchess of Aquitaine; also known for conflicts with her husbands, Louis VII of France and Henry II of England; credited with holding a " court of love " in Poitiers Also known as: Éléonore d'Aquitaine, Aliénor d'Aquitaine, Eleanor of Guyenne, Al-Aenor Eleanor of Aquitaine Biography Eleanor of Aquitaine was born in 1122. The exact date and place were not recorded; she was a daughter and not expected to matter enough for such details to be remembered.

Her father, ruler of Aquitaine, was William (Guillaume), tenth duke of Aquitaine and eighth count of Poitou. Eleanor was named Al-Aenor or Eleanor after her mother, Aenor of Châtellerault. William's father and Aenor's mother had been lovers, and while they were both married to others, they saw that their children were married. continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge Eleanor had two siblings . Eleanor's younger sister was Petronilla. They had a brother, also William (Guillaume), who died in childhood, apparently shortly before Aenor died. Eleanor's father was reportedly looking for another wife to bear a male heir when he suddenly died in 1137. Eleanor, with no male heir, thus inherited the duchy of Aquitaine in April, 1137. Marriage to Louis VII In July 1137, just a few months after the death of her father, Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis, heir to the throne of France. He became the King of France when his father died less than a month later.

During the course of her marriage to Louis, Eleanor of Aquitaine bore him two daughters, Marie and Alix . Eleanor, with an entourage of women, accompanied Louis and his army on the Second Crusade. Rumors and legends abound as to the cause, but it's clear that on the voyage to the Second Crusade, Louis and Eleanor drew apart. Their marriage failing -- perhaps largely because there was no male heir -- even the Pope's intervention couldn't heal the rift. He granted an annulment in March, 1152, on the grounds of consanguinity. Marriage to Henry In May, 1152, Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry Fitz-Empress. Henry was the duke of Normandy through his mother, the Empress Matilda , and count of Anjou through his father. He was also the heir to the throne of England as settlement of the conflicting claims of his mother Empress Matilda (Empress Maud), daughter of Henry I of England, and her cousin, Stephen, who had seized the throne of England at Henry I's death. In 1154, Stephen died, making Henry II king of England, and Eleanor of Aquitaine his queen.

Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II had three daughters and five sons. Both sons who survived Henry became kings of England after him: Richard I (the Lionhearted) and John (known as Lackland). Eleanor and Henry sometimes traveled together, and sometimes Henry left Eleanor as regent for him in England when he traveled alone. Rebellion and Confinement In 1173, Henry's sons rebelled against Henry, and Eleanor of Aquitaine supported her sons. Legend says that she did this in part as revenge for Henry's adultery. Henry put down the rebellion and confined Eleanor from 1173 to 1183. Back to Action From 1185, Eleanor became more active in the ruling of Aquitaine. Henry II died in 1189 and Richard, thought to be Eleanor's favorite among her sons, became king. From 1189-1204 Eleanor of Aquitaine also was active as a ruler in Poitou and Glascony. At the age of almost 70, Eleanor traveled over the Pyrenees to escort Berengaria of Navarre to Cyprus to be married to Richard.

When her son John joined forces with the King of France in rising against his brother King Richard, Eleanor backed Richard and helped bolster his rule when he was on crusade. In 1199 she supported John's claim to the throne against her grandson Arthur of Brittany (Geoffrey's son). Eleanor was 80 years old when she helped hold out against Arthur's forces until John could arrive to defeat Arthur and his supporters. In 1204, John lost Normandy, but Eleanor's European holdings remained secure. Death of Eleanor Eleanor of Aquitaine died on April 1, 1204, at the abbey of Fontevrault, where she had visited many times and which she supported. She was buried in Fontevrault. Courts of Love? While legends persist that Eleanor presided over "courts of love" at Poitiers during her marriage to Henry II, there are no solid historical facts to back up such legends. Legacy Eleanor had descendants via her two daughters of her first marriage , and many descendants via her children of her second marriage . More women's history biographies, by name:

Question: Eleanor of Aquitaine was married to which English king?
Answer: Henry the Second